Jury in Prominent Australian Murder Trial Tours Shoreline Where Victim Was Discovered
Jurors involved in a widely publicized Australian murder trial have traveled to the remote shore where the young woman was located.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times attacked with a sharp object and buried in a shallow grave with little or no chance of survival, the jury has been told.
The remains were found by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Court Inspection to Beach
The jury of 10 men and two women plus three alternates attended the location along with the judge and barristers on Monday morning local time.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, the judge wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose polo shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Location Details
The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they traveled to the site, four markers indicated where the vehicle had been left.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the trial and no testimony was presented.
Context of the Trial
Last week, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were found, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, family and relatives.
He was out of contact until he was arrested years after, the prosecution said.
State Argument
It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a swimwear, with her attire and belongings missing.
Those objects were removed by the assailant to conceal evidence, the prosecution allege.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found tied up to a tree concealed in bushland about 30 metres from the grave.
No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve testimony that genetic material recovered from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.
The jury has already heard testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone left the scene after the incident – and that its movements corresponded with those of a vehicle owned by the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the state has argued.
Defense Position
"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he began arguments.
The defence is yet to present any evidence, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also hinted at evidence to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had witnessed two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was among those who testified last week.
The trial was informed he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was involved in his partner's disappearance, prior to her body were discovered.
Images showing Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an specialist saying he was certain the photos were genuine and had not been doctored in any way.
The case will return to the standard environment of the courthouse on the next day.